The next is an article model of the Curious State episode of the identical identify (feat. Elie Honig), edited for content material and studying readability. You may hearken to the complete episode right here.
At 6’6” Lenny Montana was greater than life. When you’ve seen The Godfather, you’d acknowledge him as Luca Brasi—a hitman. And Lenny simply so occurred to be one in actual life.
Earlier than Hollywood, he held the position of “enforcer” for the notorious Colombo crime household. Apparently, whereas on the set of The Godfather, he shared just a few tales of the ol’ days. Together with how he’d dip a tampon in kerosene, tie it to the tail of a mouse, mild it, then let the mouse free in a constructing. Or he’d mild a candle and stick it entrance of a cuckoo clock. So when the hen popped out…
As an enforcer, Lenny’s job was easy: Intimidate, assault, and homicide as wanted for the Colombo crime household—one of many 5 main households heading up organized crime in New York Metropolis.
Elie: Basically, there are two issues that the mob cares about and needs to realize. One is that they need to earn money. Two is that they don’t need to get pinched. They don’t need to get arrested and thrown in jail.
My identify is Elie Honig. I spent 14 years as a federal and state prosecutor. I now do quite a lot of issues. I train at Rutgers College. I work for CNN as a senior authorized analyst. I’ve written a e book, and I work on podcasts as nicely.
Elie’s most up-to-date podcast known as Up In opposition to the Mob, the place he unveils inside tales of the modern-day mafia. He’s been concerned in main circumstances like John Gotti Jr. and Ciro Perrone of the Genovese crime household. Elie’s been dubbed “organized crime’s worst nightmare.” If that you must know something concerning the mafia and their historical past of violence, Elie’s your man.
Elie: In all probability the largest a part of what made the mafia on this nation—going again to the early and center of the twentieth century—was the worry of violence. And worry, after all, turned the mob’s strongest weapon. I imply, how do they get away with extorting an organization? Why would a butcher or a baker in Queens within the Sixties pay the mob 200 bucks per week in money? Worry.
Is that worry really justified by frequent fats lips and damaged legs? And even worse…a cement overcoat, successful, a contract, an Italian rope trick…you understand…homicide. Is the mafia as violent as they’re made out to be? Or has worry gotten the very best of us?
When you’re seeking to get made, homicide is a gold star in your resume.
Elie: The mob began utilizing worry to construct up their popularity. And that enabled them to commit a bunch of crimes within the 80s and 90s. You bought into the conflict part the place they had been dropping one another, taking pictures one another for retribution throughout households. And that’s been depicted in motion pictures.
To make sure a way of order and authority, mafia households have rankings. On the backside of the checklist of made guys are troopers—which embody enforcers like Lenny Montana. You then’ve obtained the Capo…
Elie: …who runs a crew and that normally 10-15 or so troopers and associates.
Then the underboss and consigliere. And sitting fairly on the prime of the ranks is the boss.
Elie: Orders to commit violence sometimes begin on the prime. Below the foundations of the mob, that are normally however not all the time adopted, you can’t commit a homicide until it’s sanctioned by the boss. And in reality, when you do commit a homicide with out the boss’s blessing, you might be killed.
So the boss passes down the homicide request to a Capo or soldier. After which that individual has to kind out all of the nitty gritty particulars. If this had been a scene in a film, it’d be the planning part of a heist movie. Besides as a substitute of a treasured diamond, they’re stealing a life. (Cue the heist music.)
Elie: Okay, what’s my hit workforce gonna appear to be? I want a shooter. Do I want a second shooter? Do I want somebody to steal a van that we are able to use? That’s clearly from a particular case I did. Do I want a driver there? Do I want a getaway driver? Do I want what they name a “crash automobile driver,” which is in case the getaway automobile will get stopped by the cops or one thing you have got one other automobile that crashes right into a wall so the cops are gonna take care of that.
The decrease you might be, usually talking, the extra of the hands-on work you’re going to finish up doing. The extra at-risk you’re going to be of getting caught by the cops. So being a boss has its advantages.
Doug: Once they’re placing a workforce collectively, do they ever rent exterior of the household?
Elie: Hmm, good query. In order that’s very, very delicate inside the mob within the homicide context. I’ve prosecuted murders the place they’ve used associates, trusted associates, guys who they knew would finally go on to get made. It will be awfully dangerous for any of the households to herald someone who’s not even an affiliate within the homicide context, as a result of that threat of cooperation.
Nonetheless, I did a sequence of circumstances involving residence invasions, the place the Genovese household was concentrating on individuals who they knew had giant quantities of money of their houses, sometimes drug sellers, individuals who owned all-cash companies. “Oh, I heard this individual retains $500,000 in his residence.” The Genovese household, for no matter cause, didn’t need to ship their very own guys. And possibly their guys felt it was too dangerous, proper? Breaking into a house, you may get shot, you may get arrested, you may get attacked by a canine, who is aware of. And possibly they simply didn’t have the abdomen for it.
They went out and so they primarily subcontracted a bunch of Albanians, and these Albanians had been youthful children newer to the sport, extra prepared to commit acts of violence. And so I did this entire large indictment the place the highest half of the indictments had been all of the Genovese guys who arrange these robberies and made a lot of the cash. And the underside half of the indictment is the Albanian guys who had been breaking in and zip tying folks and beating them, pistol whipping them, that sort of stuff.
In order that’s an instance the place they’d subcontract. However in terms of homicide, I’ve not seen an instance of the mob going exterior of their folks.
Now, there’s additionally a form of flip aspect to that, which is, it’s broadly believed, it’s probably not strictly true, that with a purpose to get made, to get that button, which is form of the golden ring within the mob, it’s a must to have dedicated a homicide, or it’s a must to have confirmed that you simply’re “succesful,” as they are saying. I don’t know if that was ever strictly the case. However look, they need robust guys, they don’t need guys who had been afraid of throwing fists or giving out a beating. However when you’re seeking to get made, homicide is a gold star in your resume.
Why do folks get killed within the first place? There are two most important causes.
Elie: One is that if they’re cooperating or there’s some suspicion they’re speaking to the cops, the FBI, and will flip on folks. Now, if prosecutors like I used to be and the FBI are doing it proper, they’ll by no means have an opportunity to take somebody out for cooperating, as a result of we’ll transfer them earlier than their cooperation turns into recognized. However there are occasions when somebody is frivolously cooperating, possibly feeding a bit bit of knowledge to the cops, being an informant however not essentially to testify. There are variations of it, and so lots of the mob murders that I’ve prosecuted had been as a result of someone was suspected, typically accurately typically not, of speaking to the cops.
The opposite cause somebody will get killed within the mob: cash.
Elie: You’re presupposed to ship a sure share or proportion of your income up the hierarchy. When you’re not doing that, and by the best way, all of them skim to some extent, I imply, they’re all criminals. However when you get caught doing that, otherwise you’re doing it to the mistaken man, otherwise you’re doing it for sufficient cash, that would get you killed as nicely.
Violence, comparable to homicide, has its advantages. (There’s one thing I by no means thought I’d write). The upside is you do away with an issue and construct your popularity. The draw back, nonetheless, is very large threat.
Elie: To begin with, that’s the easiest way to attract the warmth. The factor that will get prosecutors like I used to be, and the FBI, most enthusiastic about you and dedicating essentially the most sources and a focus is to do a homicide. So why does it make sense for them to kill someone once they may simply scare the crap out of them with a warning or possibly with a beating as a substitute?
The opposite downside for the mob with murders is murders create homicide prices, which create cooperators, and cooperators present data that results in extra prices. And what occurred was we had this entire string of circumstances within the Gambino household the place it began with one charged homicide. And two of the blokes charged with that homicide flipped. And so they gave us a handful of extra murders and extra racketeering. And we simply form of had this mushrooming impact, the place we constructed homicide case after homicide case and racketeering case after racketeering case. And people guys flip as a result of homicide brings the chance, and actually the chance, of life in jail. And that could be a very totally different ballgame than saying, okay, we’ve charged him with extortion and mortgage sharking, and he’s three to 5 years in jail.
Murders create homicide prices, which create cooperators, and cooperators present data that results in extra prices.
In recent times, the mafia is realizing that killing somebody could also be extra bother than it’s value. As a result of homicide, it seems, is unhealthy for enterprise.
Elie: And now I believe we’ve entered the trendy period, the place they notice that there’s an excessive amount of draw back and never sufficient upside to murders.
Or to place it in financial phrases:
Elie: There’s not sufficient marginal utility to committing new acts of violence. It’s not precisely the best way they phrase it. However they have already got their popularity, persons are already fearful of them sufficient of them that they’re not going to defy them. So why begin dropping our bodies when there’s a lot draw back?
How does the mafia lurch away from a tradition of violence? It could shock you to listen to, however the final mafia purpose is to go legit…comparatively talking.
Elie: However what they need to have the ability to do these days is to take the cash they make by means of crimes, after which launder it or put it in an enterprise that they’ll at the least placed on the books and write it off. For instance, in the event that they managed to get an possession stake in a enterprise and importation enterprise. Plenty of instances they tried to do it with strip golf equipment. And somebody might imagine, strip golf equipment aren’t a respectable enterprise. I imply, it’s authorized, you may have a strip membership, proper. In order that was the form of final purpose. Unions are quite common targets for that. So if as a mobster, you may form of make the leap. And that is what separates the good from the nice. , the actually completed mobsters from the simply run-of-the-mill mobsters, is that they managed to get their hooks into and at the least run their cash by means of respectable unions or eating places or bars or strip golf equipment or what have you ever. And that’s a relentless purpose. But it surely’s laborious to do this if you’re additionally concerned in murders on the similar time.
Doug: What’s the attraction of unions?
Elie: Oh my goodness. It’s a money cow for them. So I did a case years in the past, the place the Genovese household had taken over a bus drivers union native 1181, which was a Queens-based bus drivers union. And just about all of their members are the individuals who drive your kids to high school each day. There’s nothing mistaken with the drivers, however their union has been taken over by the Genovese household.
What does the Genovese household get out of it? Plenty of stuff.
To begin with, there’s actually hundreds of thousands and hundreds of thousands of {dollars} coming by means of the coffers yearly that they pocket. For instance, no-show jobs. They love no-show jobs. So what these mobsters would do, the president of the Union was a man named Sal Battaglia. We prosecuted and convicted him.
His nickname, by the best way, was “Scorching Canine.”
Elie: And when the FBI agent arrested Sal Battaglia, they stated to him, you understand they chitchat a bit bit, it’s cordial sufficient. And so they stated, “What’s along with your nickname?”
He goes, “I wish to eat hotdogs.”
Okay. All proper, that explains it.
Sal Battaglia was the president of the union, in addition to a made man within the mafia. When the FBI pulled the union’s worker checklist, they seen one thing peculiar.
Elie: There have been like eight different Battaglias. He obtained “jobs” for his aunt and his nephew, and his cousin and his brother. And certainly one of them was listed because the, I’m making this up, however the Director of Finance for the union or Supervisor of this or that for the union. And none of them confirmed up, none of them did any work. None of them had any {qualifications}. However they obtained a wage of 60, 70, 80 grand a 12 months. And so they obtained advantages by means of the union as a result of even mobsters want well being and dental.
It’s actually top-of-the-line issues you may get into because the mob. And plenty of instances you may then use a union to strongarm folks. When you management a union that has any form of tie to building, you should utilize that to shakedown contractors. On this case, they managed the bus drivers union, after which they use that to leverage their means into the New York Metropolis Division of Training. And so they had sure officers they had been bribing and paying off, they’d them of their pockets. We ended up prosecuting just a few of them.
So yeah, I really feel like I’m doing a public service announcement right here. When you’re within the mob, go get a union. They know that they don’t want me to inform them however a really profitable enterprise there for them.
They obtained advantages by means of the union as a result of even mobsters want well being and dental.
Doug: It looks like a bus drivers union can be small potatoes.
Elie: Oh, no, no. This union had I need to say 14,000 members or 11,000? This isn’t simply “the wheels on the bus go spherical and spherical” sort of stuff. And they also use that as leverage to get into different unions and into the pockets of officers.
A tasty chunk of union trivia: Apparently, Frank Sinatra acted as a liaison between the chief of Chicago’s mafia and the Kennedy household through the ’60s primarily with a purpose to get union backing. When Kennedy reneged on his guarantees after being elected, Sinatra was punished by having to play 8 straight nights on the crime boss’s membership.
Gah, it looks like such a large number. Who extorted who and when and was violence vital? Or did a smattering of excellent old style worry do the trick? And who the hell is protecting all of it straight?
Doug: They’ve the nickname of organized crime, however how organized are they actually?
Elie: To some extent, not organized in any respect. I imply, you’re not going to see like their ledger sheets and that sort of factor, in the event that they’re doing enterprise off the books, however they do have their very own inside controls. It’s well-known who has what mob union, who has what enterprise.
I all the time discovered this so fascinating. In the event that they run into issues, and so they do loads, each internally, inside, let’s say, the Gambino household. And externally between, let’s say, the Colombo and the Bonanno households, they’ve their very own authorized system, shadow authorized system, the place they work out beefs, as they name them, by means of what they name sit-downs. And it’s nearly like many civil courtroom circumstances had been.
So let’s say two totally different guys, let’s say a brand new butcher store opens up in Queens, and the Lucchese assume it must be theirs, however the Bonannos assume it must be theirs as a result of they had been extorting the prior man, therefore, they inherited it. However the Luccheses say no, he’s somebody who we had been doing enterprise with earlier than, they’ll do a sit-down. It’s a gathering between representatives, they even have nearly like attorneys, normally, the precise principals don’t sit down, they get representatives. And it needs to be equal rank to equal rank, which means mob rank. So if one aspect has a captain, which is a excessive rank, the opposite aspect can’t ship a soldier which is a decrease rank, it needs to be captain to captain, soldier to soldier, after which they make their arguments.
It’s simpler inside the household, as a result of then the boss can simply go he wins, he loses. However they must attempt to work out an answer. And if they’ll’t inside the mob households, that’s if you begin to get into escalated conflicts of the last word kind. That’s if you get right into a conflict the place they’re killing one another. However they’ve been good sufficient to work out shit like that for the final 20 years or so.
Doug: TV reveals and flicks concerning the mafia are violent, and so they appear to be unending. Why do you assume the mafia captures our collective creativeness?
Elie: It’s a bit little bit of a rooster and an egg factor, proper? Are we fascinated with the mafia due to the Godfather and Sopranos and Goodfellas? Or did these reveals and flicks succeed as a result of we had been already fascinated with the mafia?
I believe simply the tales are so good. I imply, it’s a part of the rationale I needed to be a mafia prosecutor was as a result of the tales are so outrageous, the personalities of those guys, the murders are terrifying, and so they make for good TV, proper? Probably the most memorable scenes in these motion pictures are the homicide scenes.
I do take into consideration typically it’s essential that we not glamorize it. And I used to all the time be involved about this after I was arguing a mafia trial to a jury. There may be such a factor because the jury changing into charmed by the mafia defendant. It’s the identical means you sit there and also you root for Tony Soprano, the anti-hero.
Which brings us again to what the mafia, at their core, actually needs.
Elie: Basically, there are two issues that the mob cares about and needs to realize. One is that they need to earn money. Two is that they don’t need to get pinched. They don’t need to get arrested and thrown in jail. And murders actually run in opposition to each of these objectives.
One of many issues about being part of the mob is you don’t actually must kill that many individuals to scare folks. They’ve heard of 1 or two murderes, or they’ve seen it on the information. And that’s loads sufficient to scare folks.
There may be such a factor because the jury changing into charmed by the mafia defendant.
Doug: Is the mafia actually that violent?
Elie: So it’s an ideal query. And the reply is just not as a lot not anymore. There’s been a significant decline within the variety of mob hits over the previous couple a long time. If I needed to boil down why that’s the case to a one-word reply, it could be enterprise. Simply enterprise.
For essentially the most half, they’ve traded of their piano wires and pistols “legitimacy” by way of good ol’ union and enterprise extortion. They’ve swapped precise violence with the worry of it.
Within the new age the place the mafia counts on outdated tales of violence to proceed lining their pockets with money, they may be offering a path of energy to different shadowy organizations. The sort that received’t hesitate to get their arms bloody—and bury the Italian Mafia as we all know it in a shallow grave.
Elie: I believe they’ve made, whether or not consciously or not, a cost-benefit calculation that homicide and different acts of violence are not value it. I ponder at what level folks cease being afraid of them or begin changing into extra afraid of a few of the rising felony teams that I began to see in direction of the top of my time as a prosecutor. The Albanian mob, Russian mob, Chinese language mob which relies in Chinatown proper across the nook from my workplace in Manhattan.
I ponder if there comes a degree the place these mobs begin changing into extra feared than the old-school Italian mob and in consequence, begin shifting in on their enterprise of extortion and different fear-based enterprises. I ponder how lengthy they’ll survive.
